Go enjoy festival season

This week’s hot weather is giving just a hint of what’s around the corner, weather-wise, and this weekend’s events mark the opening of community festival season.

It’s time to round up the kids’ candy buckets, pack the sun screen and shades, and dust off the flip-flops and elastic-waist shorts.

This weekend marks the first in a summer-long lineup of community events designed to entertain, educate and fill you with yummy goodies of questionable nutritional value, from corn dogs to pie and Indian tacos to ice cream.

Weekend festivals are planned this weekend in Oroville, Omak, Winthrop and Coulee Dam, along with peace events in Tonasket and Oroville, a Mother’s Day fossil dig in Republic and opening weekend of the Okanogan Valley Orchestra and Chorus production of “Spamalot.”

This weekend alone - without ever leaving Okanogan County — you can watch old-time packers, a Maypole dance, two car shows and four parades.

Tired yet?

And, lest you plan hunker down for fear of being overwhelmed, banish that thought. It’s possible to sample a bit of each event to get a flavor of the kinds of things that can happen when volunteers set their minds - and bodies - to making a festival happen.

Oroville offers its annual May Festival, a car show and Mother’s March for Peace; Tonasket hosts the annual Peace Festival; Omak offers the Friendly OK Car Club Show and “Spamalot;” Winthrop opens up for ‘49er Days; Republic offers a Stonerose dig, and Grand Coulee offers the Colorama Festival and ProWest Rodeo.

If you can’t get to everything, don’t despair. There’s a whole summer worth of festivals just waiting for residents, visitors — and volunteers.